Del Marx
Del Marx (15 BBY - ) was a Coruscanti woman who was a seasoned spacer, talented smuggler, and passionate Senator representing Ord Mantell in the New Republic Senate. Marx resigned from the senate in 16 ABY and departed Ord Mantell for parts unknown. Her current whereabouts are a mystery. Background Born and Raised While growing up on Coruscant was not unusual in and of itself, doing so as the child of a minor crime lord's majordomo and a successful Corellian swoop racer was. The Marx family lived in a small but comfortable dwelling in the planet's mid-levels, where colorful bars and the night life were visible from inside at all hours of the day. Even as a child, Del was exposed to the criminal element of the galaxy, though always from a "safe" distance. Her mother attempted to make up for the exposure by ensuring that Del would attend the finer schools available to the planet's public. The result was an excellent education, largely because she was genuinely interested in learning - but she was also learning from the men her father worked with when she wasn't in class. Shortly before the Battle of Yavin, Del met a group of smugglers who frequented the cantina her father did his business in. They entertained her with tales of their blockade runs, from delivering spice to her father's employers to delivering arms to the Rebellion. With her father's blessing and her mother's reluctant good wishes, Del joined the band of smugglers at fifteen years of age and learned by doing. Much of the crew's dealings were with the Rebellion. Going Solo When Del was twenty-one, she bid the crew goodbye and set out on her own, using the credits she had saved up from the time spent with them to purchase a YT-1300 and have it altered by a friend on Nar Shaddaa. Save for the occasional partner, she worked largely by herself - which resulted in something of a crash course in blaster marksmanship before much time had passed. She continued to work for the fledgling New Republic whenever they had a need for her, as well as other contacts that she had made herself or convinced her father to pass on, and she made a healthy living on her own. Flying solo, however, was vastly more stressful than flying with a crew. It eventually proved too much; in 11 ABY she sold her ship for a fair price and pursued the life of a law-abiding civilian. Del worked odd-jobs to pay the bills, never quite settling on any one thing. From tending bar on Tatooine, to running legitimate cargo for a handful of corporations, to giving private lessons in small arms marksmanship in the Outer Rim. All of the jobs paid, but all of the jobs had something else even more noteworthy in common - Del found them incredibly boring. IC History Out of Retirement In 15 ABY, Del decided the stress was less painful than the monotony and booked a flight to Nar Shaddaa to seek gainful employment, which she found with local crime boss Olbba the Hutt. She never actually met the Hutt himself, however, and primarily worked through his majordomo. They loaned her a ship and she was off and running, making deliveries to the galaxy's underworld elite. Early on, she convinced an old friend, Kaitlin Mainwaring, to serve as a partner and technician. For a time, they had a third member of the crew, a twi'lek named Ayaka'Gul, whom Del had found wandering on her own. After a few months, though, Ayaka was given better opportunities for work, and while the three remained a very tight-knit group of friends, she no longer joined them on runs. Del haggled a bit with her exployer and eventually secured a starship repair facility for herself and Kaitlin to manage on Nar Shaddaa, dubbing it The Side Deck and hiring on another old friend, Randy Dreyk, to tend bar. When the the majordomo she'd struck up a friendship with quit and left Nar Shaddaa later that year, he was replaced as Olbba's majordomo by Tyler Damion, a man she would come to recognize as the Sith Lord Malign. Sick of having her bar visited by his kind of scum, Del began casting around for alternative employment, and after a brief stint as a supplier - most often sending goods to the New Republic in the wake of their loss at Coruscant - she decided it was time to take a second crack at retirement. When she couldn't convince Kaitlin to join her, she passed the Side Deck on to her and packed her bags for Ord Mantell. Take Two Despite her lack of experience in politics, Del managed to win a senatorial election and became Ord Mantell's representative in the New Republic Senate. To make up for her own lack of experience, she hired on one of her opponents, Raph Opask, to serve in an advisory role during her tenure. As a senator, Del found her knowledge and ties to the criminal underworld utilized by an unlikely source -- Luke Skywalker and his Jedi Order. She gave the Order whatever assistance she could whenever it was asked of her, quietly supplying them with information and contacts that they would come to need due to the state of the galaxy, ranging from the names of trustworthy smugglers for shipping needed materials to the Republic, escape vectors off of Nar Shaddaa during its revolution, to helping supply their new Jedi Temple with durasteel and plant life. She made another unlikely alliance with a man named Aranzael Moyat, a Mandalorian. She helped the man craft a speech to be delivered to the New Republic Senate requesting the recognition of his peoples' cultural identity by the Republic, and was instrumental in getting the motion granted, leading to his position as an diplomatic envoy to the Republic for the Mandalorian people. In the final days of 15 ABY, she found herself invited to become a member of the Senate's Ministry of Defense. The Ministry also extended seats towards Aranzael Moyat at her urging, as well as Bothan Senator Laryn Tal'krel, and several others. She also helped establish the ties between the Republic and the Vigilance Security Corporation. At the beginning of 16 ABY, she would give New Republic Civilian Battle Awards to Twila Virda, Xar'on Tanner and the rest of the VSC to honor their contributions during Operation Scatterswipe. Compromise With the Empire's grasp on the galaxy's major trade routes putting the New Republic under a bit of a squeeze, Marx took action. It took several months of fighting behind the scenes of the senate, but she was eventually able to sway her colleagues to her side. Along with her friend, Shael Winters, she set off for the Smugglers Run to negotiate the delivery of needed goods past the Empire's blockades and into the Republic. She found Krackor Reincus, a man she'd once hired to ship goods herself, and the pair struck an agreement that would see the Republic's people get the goods they needed. The Dacan Civil War Still outraged by the Republic's willingness to abandon Shael Winters as dead without so much as an investigation - and barely a week after the self-same young woman was rescued by a group of Republican volunteers including Wrista Ipex from an Imperial prison in Coruscant's undercity - she became embroiled in the Dac Civil War. Initially, she was sent to Dac as a member of the Ministry of Defense, charged with leading an inquiry into the Loman Bacta Facility incident in response to Senator Ackinbrac's condemnation of the marines. As a result of the inquiry, the Dac planetary governor was fired and replaced by a joint Mon Calamari-Quarren political entity, and the inquiry itself was made a matter of public record in the interests of keeping the public completely informed. Marx would plead on the newsnet for the Mon Calamari and Quarren to come to the negotiating table to seek out a peaceful solution to the war. When Darth Malign attempted to capitalize on the Republic's support of their marines, she immediately returned to the airwaves, expressing her hope that noone would be desperate enough to throw their lot in with the Sith. She reiterated her invitation to the negotiating table, but this time, she went a step further and invited all of the galaxy's free peoples to contact the New Republic if they were so inclined. "Your government should serve you," she said, "Not the other way around." Hit and Run In late 16 ABY, the senate met to debate a bill that had been put to the floor by an impassioned Sullustan Senator named Teenib Olbec. His judgment clouded by anger, the majority of the senate - led by Marx and Tarshyyk - handily struck the bill down, allowing cooler heads to prevail. After the senate let out for the day, Marx returned to her office to find Olbec waiting for her, and the debate continued on even though the bill was no longer on the floor. Within days, Marx was brought up on assault charges and a restraining order was filed (and, according to IGN political analyst Steefin Col'bhar, "accepted with childish glee"). She resigned from her post as senator shortly thereafter, insisting that it was not connected to the charges, but had in fact been something she was considering for quite some time. In a statement recorded for her constituents, she thanked the people of Ord Mantell and the New Republic for their support, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker for "keeping (her) honest," and bid a fond farewell to the two reporters who most often covered her career. Her current whereabouts are unknown. OOC Info Del was played by JStarwind. Del was co-winner of the Best Supporting Actress category in SW1's 2007 Mushy Awards. Her co-winner was Keline. Category:NR Characters Category: NR Senators Category: Politicians Category: Humans Category: Coruscanti